Silent Hill: Illumination
by Simply Fayyt
Summary: When their friend goes missing in Silent Hill, Marius and Stacey Fields make their way to the town in order to save him. A new look into the town of Silent Hill with new, unique characters as well as some familiar and frightening faces. Rated M for Mature.
1. Chapter 1: Meeting the Leads

**Chapter 1: Meeting the Leads**

The restaurant I found myself in was small and there weren't that many people here this early. I sat in the back corner booth waiting for a contact to meet me. The food I ordered while I waited was rather good; eggs, bacon and hash browns crisped perfectly. It was definitely a hidden gem of a family owned restaurant. Once I had finished eating, the sun had fully risen and there was still no sign of my contact. I paid for my food and decided to wait a little longer to see if the lady would even show up.

I pulled out my laptop and open the information on the person I was supposed to be meeting. Her name was Cheryl, though she also went by her middle name, Heather. She was twenty years old, with dyed blonde hair and hazel eyes. There was a small bit of information on her past history in the file that I had managed to dig up during my investigation. In the file, it stated that at one point, she had been to the town of Silent Hill for unknown reasons along with an associate of hers, a one Douglas Cartland. Right after they visited the town, Douglas reported to the local authorities that a cult had been hiding secret in the town, dating back to when the town itself was built in the 1700s. The report was filled with a lot of disturbing information about the cult, known simply as "The Order", but it was all difficult to take in. Being a paranormal investigator, though, it is part of my job to help bring the truths to light about things like this.

After ten more minutes passed, I was ready to give up any hope at all of her actually showing up. Then, I heard the bell on the front door chime, and hear the hostess greet a new guest. I peek from my booth to take a quick look and discover, sure enough, it was Cheryl, the contact I had been waiting for all morning.

I get to my feet and wave her over. She gives me a skeptical look as she slowly approaches. I shook her hand and the two of us sat down in the booth.

"Can I get you something to eat, Miss Mason?" I ask politely.

"I'm fine, thanks." she replied with a stern tone. "What did you want me to meet you for, Mister...?"

"Fields, Marius Fields. I'm an investigative journalist for Dark Secrets of America magazine."

"You mean that odd paranormal mag?" she asked sarcastically.

"Yes..." I reply, shifting in my seat nervously. She really didn't seem like she wanted to be here. "I'm currently investigating..."

"...Silent Hill." she interrupted. I just nodded and she sighed heavily and stood up immediately. "It figures. You aren't the first one to come to me asking about that town. One of your co-workers came questioning me a couple of months back. Didn't your little magazine get enough from me already? There isn't much more to say… I went there and I left." she said stiffly, though I noted a haunted look in her eyes as she started to walk away from the table.

I couldn't just let her go like that; she was one of the last leads I had left. I followed her out of the restaurant and down the sidewalk onto the streets of Portland. The town was just starting to fully wake up as cars littered the streets with people heading into work for the day. I quickly caught up with her, falling in step at her side.

"Miss Mason...you have to tell me what you know, please." I plead, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

She sighed heavily, but stopped moving. She refused to look at me, hesitating as if she was thinking whether or not to actually tell me what I wanted to know.

"Fine... I'll tell you what I know..." she grumbled, turning to face me with her serious yet haunted eyes. Just the look in her eyes sent a shiver up my spine.

"That town is a horrid place of nightmares. Only a fool would willingly go there and the people who live there are blind idiots." she said rather bluntly.

"I've read the report from a one Detective Cartland about the matter. It mentioned something about a fanatic cult?"

She sighed again and leaned back casually against the wall of the building behind her.

"Just a bunch of nut jobs looking for their god..." She replied, looking down the street, lost in thought for a moment "...a dark god that most of that town seemed to worship..." she looked back to me then. "That's all I really know. I went there for something and when I got it, I just left. Nothing on this earth will get me to go back there."

Her expression said that she knew more, but I knew that whatever she was hiding was hidden for a personal reason and that nothing I could say would ever get her to talk.

"Can I ask you something, Mr. Fields?" she asked in a softer tone, almost as if she were worried for me.

"Sure..." I replied curiously.

"Why are you looking into Silent Hill?" she asked. It was more a personal question then she realized, but she was cooperating and telling me what I wanted to know. Figured I might as well tell her.

"I'm searching for someone..." I started. "...A friend of mine."

"The guy that came looking for me before?" she asked. I just nodded and took a deep breath, remembering.

"Yeah, his name is Nicholas."

"I remember him."

"He was going to investigate the town while I was away on other business. He was supposed to have been back by the time that I got home as well..."

"But he wasn't, was he?"

"No, he wasn't. At first, I thought it might have just been an extended trip without him telling me, but after three weeks passed with no messages from him, I got worried and started putting out missing posters. I followed his trail and it led me here, to you as well as a few other places. But all the leads and clues are telling me he made it to Silent Hill..."

"Do you plan on going to there to find him?"

"Yeah..."

"I can't force you not to go. I went there without thinking and..." she started, but her voice trailed, lost in thought. "Just...be careful, okay?" she requested, giving a weak smile. I nodded and she reached into her pocket and pulled something out. "It will be dangerous... Take this." she said, handing me the object in her hand.

I took it and examined it. It appeared to be an old retractable knife, worn from age and apparent use.

"It was mine, when I went there. It's not much, but it's something. I suggest you bring a gun with you though..." she explained before walking off down the street.

"Thank you, Cheryl..." I said softly.

"Try not to get yourself killed..." she replied with a short wave of her hand as she turned the corner of the sidewalk, out of sight.

The knife is cold in my hand. I press the button on the side of it and watched the medium-sized blade shoot out. The blade was still sharp, as if it had just recently been sharpened, but the markings on the metal casing and the sides of the blade itself showed its use. _Why the hell would she need this, let alone warn me to bring a gun of all things?_ I thought to myself as I flipped the blade back into the hilt and pocket the knife. The day was just beginning and I needed to get back to my motel room.

The drive back to the motel was calm and uneventful. The traffic quickly died down and soon the streets were nearly empty. I parked my car in the motel's parking lot and made my way up to the room. It was small, only fitting a twin bed as well as a desk plus a small kitchenette, and smelt heavily of lemon scented cleaner.

I set my laptop down on the desk and sit down, opening it and start typing in my journal, updating my entries with what I learned from my talk with Cheryl. I sighed after I finished, standing up and going over to the mini-fridge and pulling out a can of soda. It was already nearing midday and I needed to be on the road again soon if I was going to make it to my last contact before nightfall. On the wall I had taped up pictures of the contacts that Nick had mentioned in his entry on his computer before he disappeared.

The first was a truck driver by the name of Travis Grady. It had been difficult to track him down seeing as he was always on the move. Then there was Harry Mason and his daughter Cheryl. Harry, I came to find out, had died some years back so I immediately went to the daughter. Then there was the last contact, a man by the name of James Sunderland. He would be the last person I meet before I even thought about heading out to Silent Hill. All of these contacts had one thing in common; they all had strange and disturbing experiences in the town. A good investigator always looks at the leads and clues first before jumping into the fray.

All of a sudden, I heard a buzzing noise coming from the desk and then the sound of my phone's ring tone going off. I picked up my phone and checked the caller ID; it was my wife, Stacey.

"Hey, love." I answered, happy to hear her voice.

"Hello dear. How are you doing?"

"Good, just finished up my interview with Cheryl."

"How did it go?"

"Okay. There's nothing new though, just the usual.

I keep getting cryptic answers and nothing really straightforward. Whatever really happened to these people has left them really spooked. How about you? Did you find any new leads?" I replied. Stacey was not only my newly wedded wife, but also the editor and researcher for our magazine, Dark Secrets of America. Nick and I were the field investigators.

"Nothing just yet; I think we are running dry..." she answered softly. She sounded as if something was on her mind and I felt compelled to ask.

"Is everything okay?"

"I..." she started, sounding sad. "I miss you Marius... You've been away for over a week and we still haven't been able to get any clear answers on what is happening in Silent Hill... why people are disappearing..." she took a deep, shaky breath.

"I miss you too, love. I just..."

"I know. You have to find Nick; I want to find him too. I'm just frightened..."

"…That I might disappear too?" I finished for her, but was answered with only a prolonged silence. "I won't, okay? You have my word."

"Marius I... have something I need to tell you..."

"What is it?"

"I... No, not yet. I want you to be here." she replied. Her response confused me; she has never really been one to play games like this. I wanted to ask her again if something was wrong, but my alarm went off telling me that I needed to be on the road.

"Okay, love. You can tell me when I come home. I won't be gone for much longer, okay?"

"Okay..." she answered meekly.

"I need to go, but I promise that I'll come home once this is done, and we can go out and celebrate. I love you, Stacey."

"I love you too, Marius. Be careful." she said, the tone of her voice made me very happy. She sounded relieved and happy, and that always calmed my nerves.

Within a few minutes, I had all my things packed and into my Ford Ranger and had checked out from the front desk. The day was still young and it would take me a few hours to reach where I was supposed to meet James.

The highway leading to the border of Maine and New Hampshire was calm if not strangely quiet. I was heading to a small town that sat right on the border of the two states called Harrington. According to the information I gathered on the place, its population barely passed the five thousand mark. It sounded more like a small village then an actual town.

Within a few hours, I pulled off the highway onto the exit leading to Harrington. It was rather secluded, miles of forest on either side and only the road straight ahead of me. The map I had looked at indicated that I would be on this road for about twenty miles. After what felt like hours, I finally arrived in the small town. Looking at the marketplace of the town really gave me that mom and pop feeling and I had to smile, it seemed like a really peaceful place.

I pulled in to a small gated community of houses not too far down the road where James was supposed to be living. It was one of those places where the lawns are always cut and green and the houses were all the same. I looked closely for the address on the paper I had on the passenger seat, and in no time, I pulled into the driveway of the right house.

Like the rest of the homes, it looked to be two stories and was painted a light tan color. There wasn't a car in the driveway, so I hoped that it was just parked in the garage. I knocked at the door and waited a few minutes until I heard a rattling sound on the other end, then the door slowly opened, a teenage looking blonde girl having answered.

"Can I help you?" she asked cautiously.

"Hi, my name is Marius Fields. I'm here looking for a James Sunderland? I called the other day and he told me to meet him at this address." I replied with a smile. She just narrowed her eyes at me and told me to hold on for a moment as she disappeared into the house. After a few minutes, she came back to the door and opened it all the way.

"Daddy said he was expecting you."

I nodded and slowly entered the house. It was rather nice looking on the inside. Polished wood floors, tan walls that matched the outside of the house and furnished like a normal suburban home. The girl led me into one of the dimly lit backrooms. To me, it looked like one of those fancy studies that all the father figures in fifties TV shows seemed to have. There was a large fireplace against the far wall, a desk covered with papers as well as bookshelves filled to the brim with authors I both recognized and some I didn't. The walls were decorated with many different paintings, and an armchair sat in the center of the room looking towards the fireplace.

"Thank you for bringing our guest in, Laura. You can go play now." came a voice from the chair who I assumed to belong to James.

"Okay, daddy." the girl said before leaving the room.

"Mr. Sunderland, I presume?" I asked.

"Please, call me James." he said as he stood up from his armchair and faced me with a smile.

I approach him and held out my hand in offer of a handshake, he took it.

"Thank you for meeting me like this Mister... James."

"No problem, pull up a seat and make yourself at home. Can I get you a scotch or anything?"

"I'm fine, thanks."

"Suit yourself." he replied with a chuckle as he headed over to the desk, pulling out a glass and a bottle and pouring some of the golden liquid into the glass. He then moved back over to the armchair, pulling the chair from the desk with him.

"Here, have a seat. I'm sure you have a lot of questions to ask..."

I smiled and took a seat in the offered chair as he sat down back into the armchair. He took a sip from the small glass in his hand and took in a deep breath.

"So, you said you were looking into Silent Hill?" James asked.

"Yeah, from all the paranormal activity and disappearances from that town, I thought it would be a good article for my magazine."

"And...Which magazine is that again?"

"Dark Secrets of America…"

"Right; one of your journalists came up here looking for me as well a few months ago. Said he planned on staying in the town and wanted some history into some of the things that happened there..."

"Yeah, he was a friend of mine..."

"Was?"

"Is. I mean to say he is a friend of mine."

"He's disappeared hasn't he?"

"Yeah... Every one of his contacts just happens to guess that. Why is that, James?"

James took a larger sip from his glass and leaned back in his armchair, gazing at the fire for a long moment.

"James?" I questioned. He seemed to snap out of what looked to me like a trance and just continued to look at the fire.

"Yeah, sorry… Just a lot happened when I went to that town. I'm sure that it has happened to others too, but I don't personally see the connection. The best reason I could give you for us guessing at his disappearance is because, at least myself, had a rather horrifying experience in that town."

"What happened, James?"

"It's...not my place to really say. It's... personal."

"I understand, but what exactly is Silent Hill? Why do people just disappear there?"

"The best answer I could really give to you is that the town is alive, in a sense. It makes your nightmares, your fears and your insecurities come alive."

"Come alive? What do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what I said... This friend of yours, you planning on going in after him?" he asked, finally turning to look me in the eye with a rather serious expression.

"I have to find him... He's like a brother to me..."

"That's understandable. Just be careful and don't go unprepared. Silent Hill is not a place to be taken lightly. You must steel yourself to be put through the trials that the town has to offer."

I just glared at him, narrow eyed. There was no way a town could just be alive like that, this man had to be exaggerating.

"Why did you go into Silent Hill, James?" I asked. He just sighed and looked back at the fireplace. On top of the mantle was an old picture of James next to a woman.

"I went to find her... My wife..." he just chuckled under his breath and took another sip from his glass. "It's a long story and one I would rather not relive right now. There's no way I would ever go back to that hellhole of a town now." he looked back to me then and the look in his eyes were so serious and haunted… just as Cheryl's were. That sent a shiver up my spine. "Do you have any regrets, Marius?"

"Doesn't everyone? We are all human."

"You have a valid point there, just be ready to face your past... That's all I can really give you in advice if you are so determined to go to that town."

"Thank you, James. You've been a lot of help."

"Sure thing... Marius?"

"Yeah?"

"If you make it out in one piece, I'll tell you my story." he said with a smile.

"Will do..." I said, returning the smile.

"Before you go, I have something for you..." James stood up from his armchair, heading back over to the desk. He opened the drawer on the desk and seemed to be looking for something. I stood from my chair, trying to get a better look, but he seemed to have found it and closed the drawer again.

"I'm being honest here, Marius. It's going to be dangerous going into that town. Whether you believe me or not, please take this, and be careful." he said rather seriously as he held out a handgun towards me, grip first.

I approach him slowly and take the gun by the grip, pulling the weapon closer and inspecting it. I had used this kind of weapon before in the past, checking to make sure the safety was on before pulling out the magazine and checking the bullets. Sure enough, it was filled with ten rounds of ammunition. I popped the clip back into the handgun and pocket it.

"Take this as well..." James said, tossing Marius a box of ammo. "Trust me, you will need it."

"Is Silent Hill really that bad?"

"I honestly couldn't tell you, but you are going to find out for yourself, aren't you?"

"Looks that way, if I ever want to find out what happened to my friend."

"Good luck, and be safe, kid." James replied, patting Marius on the back.

Within no time, I found myself back on the road heading north towards Silent Hill. Nightfall was only a few hours away, so I needed to find an inn to stay at for the night and start fresh in the morning. Silent Hill wasn't too far north of where I was. It was only a few hours north of Portland.

I stopped at one of the towns I was passing through when the sun started to set. I found myself a nice, cheap little place to stay at for the night. The room wasn't great, but the staff seemed really nice. I didn't even bother unpacking my stuff. After I had a quick rest, I planned on heading back onto the road. I lay down on the bed and sighed in relief. The bed was soft and the sheets warm, that's all that mattered to me as I let my eyes drift shut and fall into a deep sleep.

I opened my eyes, finding myself back home in the apartment that Stacey, Nick and I shared. I glanced over to the other side of the bed and found it empty. _Stacey must already be up. How is it she gets up quicker than me without waking me?_ I thought in amusement as I yawned and slid myself out of bed, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. The place we lived in was actually a converted old firehouse. We had it cleaned up and fitted to be a house and base of operations for our magazine, Dark Secrets of America.

I walked into the bathroom connected to our bedroom. It was larger than most bathrooms, having been built to accommodate a few people at once. We converted most of it, took out the old stalls that used to be in here and turned it into just a large bathroom, but the showers themselves remained unchanged. Stacey and I had thought that the shower being as big as it is was kind of neat.

I looked around, but Stacey wasn't in here. I then moved out into the living room and looked around. The desks we used for work were all situated in a corner of the large space. In the center we had a rather big couch situated around a large flat-screen TV. The kitchen was within sight as well, technically being a part of the same room space. She wasn't here either, and neither was Nick come to think of it. I glanced over to the door that led to Nick's room and found it open.

Curious, I moved up to the door and took a peek in. My eyes widened and I felt all the blood rush out of my face as I saw the scene in Nick's room. The lights were flickering on and off, there were clothing and all of Nick's things thrown about in the room. There were scratch marks and blood along the walls. My heart began beating so hard it felt as though it were in my throat as I looked to the center of the room. The smell alone was unbearable and foul as I covered my mouth trying not to vomit. Nick's bed was nearly completely soaked in fresh blood. His body… or what I could make out to be him was lying on the bed.

It took me a moment to take the whole scene in, almost as if my mind didn't want me to see the carnage before me. He had been stripped naked, skin cracked and bleeding and bruised. What appeared to be deep knife wounds covered his chest. I lost it, doubling over and vomiting violently on the floor at my feet. Coughing and hacking and trying not to breathe in the stench too deeply. Tears began welling up in my eyes. On the wall above Nick's body, painted in dripping blood, were the words "_You can't save me..."_

I couldn't take it. I ran out of the room and slammed the door shut behind me. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks as I gasped for air. I stumbled and fell back against the door as I realized that the living room had changed. The TV and couched knocked over and the rest of the living room looked as if someone had been fighting.

My eyes widened even more as I looked to the kitchen. Along the wall were bloody hand prints and I could see a foot sticking out from behind the counter. I swallowed hard, pulse beating rapidly in my throat, trembling in fear as I slowly crawled to the kitchen.

I screamed, tears covering my face as I found Stacey lying dead on the floor of the kitchen.

"Oh my god, Stacey!" I screeched in agony, pulling her already cold body tightly into my arms, weeping over her. Her eyes were shut and lips hanging loosely open. Her hair was matted with blood. Cuts lined her wrists and chest with one long one cut across her throat like a grinning mouth. I looked away, not wanting to believe what I was seeing. More bloody hand prints were on the cabinets of the kitchen, I followed them, leading to the wall near where Stacey had been lying. Written in blood the same as the words in Nick's room were the words "_Why did you leave me alone!?"_

I cried out, screaming until my voice went hoarse and pained, clenching my eyes shut. When I opened them, I was suddenly back in the motel room.

"What...the...hell?" I questioned the darkness of the room. My eyes were wide, heart beating as if it would pop out of my chest and I was coated in a cold sweat.

I immediately went for my phone and dialed Stacey, not caring what time it was. The phone rang, and kept on ringing. My heart sunk when I thought she wouldn't answer at all. Then, at the last possible second, I heard a voice.

"Hello...?" Stacey questioned; voice heavy with sleep.

"Oh Stacey, thank god. Is...Everything okay..?"

"I'm fine baby..." she paused for a moment. "It's four in the morning, are you okay? You sound terrified."

"I..I'm okay. I just had a nightmare." I replied, relieved that she was okay. My heart slowly started to calm down but the images from the nightmare stuck firm in my mind.

"It's okay baby, it's just a nightmare. Is everything else okay?"

"Yeah... I got everything I need. I'll be heading to Silent Hill soon."

"Just... Be careful, and call me when you get there okay?"

"I will, darling."

"Promise me?"

"I promise."

"Good." she said with a giggle that made me suddenly just feel a whole lot better. "I love you."

"I love you too." and with that, I hung up and lay back down on the bed and sighed, looking straight up at the ceiling. In a few hours, I would check out and start making my way to Silent Hill.


	2. Chapter 2: Welcome to Silent Hill

**Chapte****r 2****: Welcome to Silent Hill**

The sun was barely starting to rise as I packed up what little I had taken with me from the car into the motel room. In no time, I was checked out and driving down the lonely highway north deeper into Maine, my destination; Silent Hill.

The dream from the night before still haunted me. The image of both my best friend and wife ripped to shreds bleeding into my thoughts. I sighed, dropping by a local fast food restaurant and grabbing a small bite to eat as well as a coffee. If I was going to drive hours still to Silent Hill, I would need my energy.

The trip was long and boring, only plus side was the truly magnificent view of the countryside of Maine. It was summer, but being so far north, it was still rather cold. Though, the way it looked outside, you wouldn't have expected it. Not a cloud in the sky, nothing but blue for as far as the eye could see. I let my window down and took in some of that fresh air and sighed in relief. With such a beautiful day, what could possibly go wrong?

Once I saw the sign telling me that I was only miles away from Brahms and Silent Hill, something inside of me froze. As if a chill had come over me and I couldn't shake it off. I was scared, but I didn't know why. Was it what the others had told me? That Silent Hill was a place of evil? Could what they have said really be real?

I took a deep breath and let it out slowly as I pulled off of the highway onto the exit. Within a mile or so, I found myself on a lonely mountain-side road that curved left and right around the base of one of the mountains heading in towards Silent Hill. Once I saw the sign welcoming me to the town, I slowed down to a halt and took yet another deep breath. My skin felt chilled even more than usual and the hairs on the back of my neck were standing on end. There definitely was something wrong with this town. I hadn't even completely entered it yet, but it just seemed to feel... Wrong.

_This is where Nick said he was going; the place that all the clues seem to be leading me to. _I thought as I looked to the passenger seat.

Both the knife Cheryl gave me and the Handgun that James gave me sat there on the seat. I wasn't worried about carrying them on me; I had a concealed weapons license after all. I was more concerned still about why I would need these at all.

"Guess it's now or never..." I whisper under my breath and press on the gas pedal, driving into the town.

It was about midday already and the town seemed, for lack of a better word, normal. I drove from the interstate onto what the street sign said to be Midway Ave. There were a small amount of people going about their business on the sidewalks and a few cars were driving along the road. How normal the town seemed, though, didn't seem to get rid of the off feeling I've had since pulling into the town. But, I couldn't find anything wrong as I drove down the street, turning left onto Crichton and then a right onto Cielo, which merged into Riverside Drive.

Nick had said in his note that he had left me that he would be staying at the Riverside Motel here in Silent Hill during his stay. He even gave me a number to reach him at. Though, when I attempted to call, all I had gotten was an automated message telling me that the phone had been disconnected.

I pulled into the parking lot at the Riverside Motel and parked my car. Sitting there in my truck, I took a moment to gather my strength. I had no idea what would await me once I got out of the car. My mind wandered and I had remembered what both Cheryl and James had told me. That Silent Hill was a place of nightmares and that it was dangerous. I glanced out of the window towards the small bustling part of the town I could see and sighed. _How could a town this... normal get such a bad reputation?_

I pocket the handgun and knife and grab the rest of my things and head into the motel. It was rather quiet; the only other person in the lobby was a woman sitting at the reception desk.

"Welcome to the Riverside motel... How may I help you?" the woman asked with a tone that told me that she really wish she were anywhere but here right now as she flipped through a magazine.

"I have a quick question..."

"What is it? ...sir?" she corrected herself, though she didn't even bother looking up from her magazine. I found it rather rude, but for now I ignored it.

"I need to know if a friend of mine is staying here..."

"I'm sorry, sir. But I am not allowed to give out any information about our guests."

I sighed. I knew her type; she hated her job but she wouldn't break rules unless she benefited from it. You find a lot of these kinds of people as a journalist. I fiddled around in my pocket for my wallet and took out a twenty dollar bill and folded it up, sliding it towards her. She looked up from her magazine to the money, then to me and then back down to the money before taking it and going to one of the many books on the desk across from her.

"Who're ya looking for?" she asked.

"A man by the name of Nicholas Cole"

After a moment of searching through the customer logs, she pulls one of the books over to the counter.

"It says here that your friend paid up for the month in room number 201. It's right out past the double doors there..." she said, pointing towards the set of doors on the other end of the room.

I thanked her and made my way out through the double doors into a small courtyard situated in the center of the complex. It looked like anything a normal motel would have. A few tables and lawn chairs surrounding a decent sized pool. There were a few people lounging by the side and even a few kids swimming in the pool. It was a nice day out, so I wasn't all that surprised.

Room 201 was rather easy to find, it was right along the outer wall facing the pool. I gave a firm knock on the door and waited for a few minutes. There was no response. I sighed and looked around quickly making sure that no one was watching as I pulled out a lock pick from my pocket and knelt in front of the door. As I grabbed at the door handle, the door itself inched open with a creak as if it hadn't even been shut all the way. Curiously, I opened the door all the way and walked inside.

The lights were off and the room itself smelled like stale air, as if no one had been in the room for weeks. I found the switch for the lights and flicked them on, the light from the lamps blinding for a moment before my eyes adjusted. I closed the door behind me and started looking around the room. It wasn't bad. It had a bed, full bathroom and a full kitchen as well as a TV with cable. I made my way to the desk, which was covered with old food wrappers and scattered papers. The papers were all information on the many different reported haunting and disappearances surrounding the town of Silent Hill.

The place definitely hadn't been touched in weeks; there were flies buzzing around the food and the closer I drew, the more rotten it smelled. After cleaning up the mess of food left behind, I sat myself down at Nick's desk, flipping through some of the scattered papers. It was more or less the same stuff that he had left on his computer and the same contacts that I had met with along with some of Nick's personal notes on the situations. He seemed to speculate that the town itself wasn't really haunted nor evil, but that it was most likely the land itself; the original town itself had been built on a Native American holy land they had once called "The Place of Silenced Spirits." Apparently, many rituals were conducted in the area in accordance with the indigenous beliefs. With the sheer number of different reported supernatural occurrences, it definitely wasn't out of the question that it was in fact that land itself that was haunted and not necessarily the town itself. Nick might have been on to something.

I read through the rest of Nick's notes within the next few hours. There wasn't much more for me to learn. The notes mentioned some of the haunted locations that he wanted to investigate.

He mentioned wanting to be over and done with the investigation before Stacey and I had gotten back from our honey moon, which had been weeks ago. Just reading those made my heart sink even more. I was hoping that Nick was simply so into the investigation that he just forgot to call us or answer his phone. That maybe if I waited here long enough he might just show up. I took a deep breath and leaned back in the chair, looking up at the ceiling. I knew that probably wouldn't be the case, Nick wouldn't do something like that, but right now it couldn't hurt to hope.

"Nick... Where are you?" I questioned in a whisper.

I decided to look around the room a bit more; maybe I missed a clue he left or something else that might tell me where he was. In the drawer, nestled in the back, I found the keys to Nick's car, a Ford Mustang. This was very unlike Nick. He wouldn't just leave these just lying here like this. His car was rather important to him.

I pocket the keys and continue to look around the room, but there was nothing more to find. I sighed and lay down on the bed. It was still made up as if Nick never even used it.

I was suddenly feeling very tired. My eyes started to feel heavier with each passing second. _What could it hurt to take a quick nap?_ I thought as I let out a heavy yawn. I let my eyes drift shut and, in no time, I was fast asleep.

I was driving down the highway heading into Silent Hill again. The air around me felt heavy and the sky was filled with thick clouds, dimming the light from the sun. I had a feeling of déjà vu struck me, but I couldn't place why. I rolled up my window as the air smelled thick with rain.

A large fog seemed to roll in as I passed the sign welcoming me to Silent Hill. I turned on my headlights, but even that didn't seem to cut through the thick fog and I was only able to see but a few feet in front of me. As I drew closer to the town, something felt odd. A few abandoned cars started to appear on the side of the roads. I slowed down a little to get a better look. They looked rusted out and rather old. The paint on the cars was almost completely chipped off.

A static white noise started ringing through my car and my radio started freaking out. The sound jarred me and made my heart race and I quickly shut off the radio. _What the hell was that?_ I questioned as I studied the radio for a moment. I ignored it as I drove into town, the fog seeming to grow even thicker the deeper I went.

Something struck me even more as odd as I noticed that even the town itself seemed to be in a state of abandonment and disrepair. A chill ran up my spine as I drove deeper into the town. A few times, I thought I saw a shadow following me from the streets and alleyways, but I shrugged it off. Though, I couldn't fight the feeling crawling up the back of my neck as if I really were being followed.

After a few more minutes of driving through the thick fog of the empty town roads, I pulled into the parking lot of the Riverside Motel. Just as the rest of the town, the motel seemed to be in a state of disrepair. The paint was chipping on the sides and the wood doors and frames looked old and rotting. I parked the truck and stepped out onto the pavement of the parking lot and looked around.

The fog was thick and I could barely see in front of me still. I wondered what the hell was happening and then I remembered what the others had told me. That Silent Hill was a place of nightmares. What this what they meant?

I made my way into the lobby. Everything felt familiar, but I still couldn't place why it was. The room was empty, not even a receptionist behind the counter. There was only one set of keys handing on the wall where the room keys were; it was to room 201. I grab it from the wall and pocket it, looking around for a map. It was torn in places but on the far wall hung a small map of the premises; it showed that room 201 was located outside in the courtyard near the pool. I found the double doors that led into the court yard and, with effort; I was able to push them open with a load and heavy creak.

Waiting for me on the other side of the door was a pitch black void of darkness that made the hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

I hesitated, taking a step back and then turning around towards the counter and walking up to it. Fiddling through some of the drawers, I found a dusty old pocket flashlight. I checked the batteries then tested it, then headed back towards the door and turned it on. The light was bright and pierced a few feet ahead in the darkness. I took my first step through the threshold and a chill ran up my spine.

From the appearance on the map, the pool and courtyard seemed to be outside, but the darkness was so thick, so dominating that it just couldn't have been. The day had been cloudy and the fog was thick but nothing that could cause this.

The air felt heavy and cold and I soon found myself shivering as I pushed forward into the darkness. I was trembling, but it was from more than just the cold; there were sounds coming from around me, like the shuffling of wild animals but it kept drawing nearer from the sounds of it. I was afraid. I found myself nearly running in the direction that the map told me was room 201.

As soon as I started my sprint, the shuffling sound grew louder, closer, thicker; almost as if it weren't a cat or other small animal, but something more...sinister. I didn't want to think about what it could be. I just had to make it to the room. That sounded better than anything right now and safe.

I had almost given up hope at reaching the door when it nearly hit me in the face. I placed my hand against the rotting wood of the door and shifted through my pocket for the key and pulled it out. My hand was shaking so hard that I dropped it, cursing under my breath as I quickly knelt down and picked it up.

When I stood back up, I froze with my hand on the doorknob. My eyes were wide and my breath caught in my throat. I could feel something behind me. Its hot breath beat against the back of my neck; my skin crawling. I was too afraid to move; too afraid that if I did move, it would get me. But I also felt the need to get to the other side of the door. I looked nervously down to the key in my hand and slid it into the lock and turned it.

Each click of the lock sounded as if it took an eternity until finally the lock released and then, I felt it. The creature's hand grabbed my shoulder and I could feel its skin ripple and deform as if there were something was crawling underneath. I let out a scream of horror and pushed the hand away. Its skin didn't feel human natural; it felt old, decrepit and rotten and made my skin crawl even more as I forced the door open and ran through, shutting and locking it behind me. My breath clouded in a thick vapor in front of my face as I panted heavily, heart racing.

I let out a sigh of relief and pressed my forehead to the wood of the door. Hot tears streamed down my cheeks. Was it over? Was I safe? I thought that coming into the room would feel safe, but I just felt worse; almost sick. A sound echoed from the room behind me; a long drawn out sound of metal scraping slowly against the floor.

My eyes shot open, but I didn't want to look. Yet I did all at the same time. I was shaking, crying and terrified. My heart was racing so fast that I thought it would burst from my chest. I swallowed hard and nervously turned to see what was approaching.

The light was flickering, but what I saw paralyzed me where I was. My eyes so wide they felt like they would pop out. My mouth hung agape and a loud scream pierced my lips as the great creature approached me. It's head encased in a large pyramid-like helmet. All he wore was a bloodied butcher's smock with its chest bare. A low grown emanated from under the mask, but it was what he was dragging that really frightened me; a large, great knife dragged along the ground, splitting the carpet in its wake.

I wanted out of the room. No, I wanted out of the whole bloody town. I turned back to the door and tried with all my might to force it open, but it wouldn't budge. Then, the sound of dragging metal stopped and along with it, my heart skipped a beat. I nervously turned, pressing my back to the wooden door. The creature was stopped right in front of me. It's large, painful looking helmet completely hid its face with no sign of eye-holes, no possible way to see me that I could tell.

Maybe if I stood still, perfectly still, he would just leave. I hoped and prayed and tried to will my body to stop shaking but I just couldn't; I was too afraid. More than I had been in my entire life and I couldn't help the whimper of fright that slipped from me.

The creature let out another grown and lowered its masked face to me more, taking a few steps back. I let out a sigh of relief; maybe it would let me go. I hoped, taking in a deep, heavy breath. It only took a second before I heard it groan again as it lifted its blade, thrusting in my direction in a movement that should have been impossible for the size of the blade. I couldn't find the words to speak or the voice to scream.

I felt a sharp pain flaring up in my chest and something trickles from my mouth. I looked down. The creature's blade was pierced through my chest. What was trickling from my mouth was my own blood. I was frightened, scared, confused and yet I couldn't do anything. Numbness took my body so the pain was gone. My eyes grew heavy and they shut on their own. I fought to stay awake, but it was a losing battle and in no time, the void took me.

I woke with a start, gasping hard for breath. I was covered in a thick sheen of sweat and the bed sheets under me were soaked. I was breathing heavily as I looked around. I was back in Nick's room on his bed, where I had fallen asleep. My eyes were wide and my heart was racing.

I glanced down at my chest and felt around, I was fine. No wound from where the creature's blade had pierced me. _Was all that just a dream? It... It felt so real, though._ I thought as I slid to the side of the bed and let myself recover. As I glance over to the side table next to the bed, there was a note just lying there. I know that it wasn't there before; I had checked the entire room thoroughly before lying down. I picked the note up and scanned over it.

There wasn't much on it other than a few words: _Parking lot, spot number twelve_. I stood from the bed and made my way towards the room door. My heart is still racing, and I had no idea what the hell was going on, but I would find out, and find Nick. The image of the pyramid encased thing stood firm in my mind as well as the feel of the other creature, whatever they were. I froze; hand on the doorknob, shaking lightly. I wasn't sure what was waiting for me on the other side, but I was going to find out.


	3. Interlude 1: Restless Night

**Interlude 1:** Restless Night

A loud ring woke me from my sweet dream. I grumbled as I felt around for the source of the loud annoying ringing on the table at the side of my bed. I grip at my phone and squint at the caller ID and notice it was Marius, my husband.

"Hello...?" I question, my voice heavy with sleep.

"Oh Stacey, thank god. Is...Everything okay?" he replied. He sounded spooked and that alone woke me up a little.

"I'm fine baby..." I paused for a moment, looking over at the alarm clock "It's four in the morning, are you okay? You sound terrified."

"I...I'm okay. I just had a nightmare." He replied. He sounded like he was relieved about something, but I wasn't sure what. I know my husband and there was something he wasn't telling me.

"Its okay baby, it's just a nightmare. Is everything else okay?"

"Yeah... I got everything I need. I'll be heading to Silent Hill soon."

"Just... Be careful, and call me when you get there okay?" I replied. I wasn't about to tell him, but I was worried about him going to Silent Hill. I wanted to find Nick just as much as he did, but this lingering feeling of dread in my heart just wouldn't go away. I didn't want him to disappear as well.

"I will, darling."

"Promise me?" I asked.

"I promise."

"Good." I said with a giggle. I knew it helped him calm down when I sounded cheery and happy so I did my best to hide the growing worry in me at least for this moment. "I love you."

"I love you too." he replied.

We hung up and I sat there on the side of the bed, my mind adrift with thoughts about Marius going into that town. I clutched at the sheets of my bed, wishing he were back here with me.

"Be safe, my love..." I whispered into the darkness, thinking that somehow he might hear it.

I found myself unable to get back to sleep so I got up and walked across the apartment into the kitchen. I was wearing a loose tank top and a simple pair of panties. My curly ebony hair held in a loose ponytail down my back. It was my home and no one else was here, I could worry about modesty later.

I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and took a large swig of it. It was cool and refreshing. I glanced out the large window that took up most of the wall of the kitchen and living room which overlooked the ever bustling nightlife of downtown LA. Our apartment was situated high up in one of the many skyscrapers and out of sight of anyone who wasn't specifically looking at this window, so my modesty remained intact.

After a moment I moved to sit down at my desk situated in a corner of the room near the large window. I loved the view, it was always breathtaking and helped me relax when working long hours on a project.

I pressed the enter key on the keyboard of my computer and brought it out of sleep mode. After entering my password and unlocking my computer, I opened up the file that we had on Silent Hill. A lot of it was the normal kind of haunting you would expect to find in old towns like this. There were a few wondering spirits, banging doors, apparitions, hearing disembodied voices. It only starts to get really frightening when you figure out that a insane religious cult had been running the town since its creation.

There were also a bunch of reported disappearances and even a serial killer was sprouted from the town. Nick had made connections between the killings, disappearances and paranormal activity all to this cult, known as The Order. Of course, after they were ousted, they had been disbanded and had apparently all wiped out, but the strange activity didn't stop after they had left. The land was in fact a holy land for the Native American's hundreds of years ago and even then it had been known for its spiritual activity, but whatever the cult had been doing there had corrupted the land beyond repair.

Rereading through all of Nick's notes just made me feel worse about Marius going into that town. So much concentrated evil. _What on earth could have gotten Nick to go to such a place?_ Even as Paranormal investigators, we weren't prepared to face something like this. But he only left his research, no reason to be found for wanting to go all of a sudden, nothing at all.

I sighed and leaned back in my chair, looking out the window again down the crowded streets below. I felt helpless being here alone like this. I wanted to go as well, but Marius wouldn't hear anything of it. With Nick disappearing, he didn't want to risk me going into that mess as well.

I closed my laptop; I didn't want to read any more of this. I knew that if I did, I would just get even more worried for Marius. I stood up and walked over to the kitchen, pulling out a bottle of sleeping pills and popping a few with the last of my bottled water and went back to the room and lay down on the bed. I stared up at the rotating ceiling fan, my mind wandering, thinking of what Marius might find and what he was doing right this moment. I closed my eyes and turned over onto my side, clutching at the pillow he normally used and snuggling close to it, smelling his scent lightly on it.

The alarm clock woke me up at the normal time in the morning around eight. I yawned and stretched out my arms, cracking my left shoulder. A couple of years back, I was in a minor accident that tweaked a few of my left side joints. I rubbed at my eyes as I slid out of bed, slowly walking to the bathroom and starting the shower.

Being an old fireman's station, the showers were made for a group rather than one or two. I liked the design, so when Marius, Nick and I were redecorating the place, I asked to keep it like this. The hot water felt nice as it beat against my skin, washing away the stress from my body. I sighed again and pressed my hands up against the wall of the shower, letting the hot water wash down my back.

I let my mind wander as I watched the droplets of water clash against the tile of the floor. I thought of Marius, what he might be doing right this moment. I wondered if he was near Silent Hill yet or just waking up. I just wanted him back in my arms again. I got so lonely without him with me, but I wouldn't let that get to me. I knew I had to remain strong; this was important after all.

I toweled off and got dressed; a simple pair of jeans and a loose fitting shirt. I went to our phone, checking the answering machine and sighing as it told me that there were no new messages. It was still early in the morning, maybe he hadn't even left yet. I should just stop thinking about it and get some work done. After all, he did promise he would call me when he arrived. I just wanted to know he was safe.

I decided the best thing I could do at the moment would be to bury myself into a bit of work. I started editing one of Marius' articles; one of the previous haunts they had checked out before him and I left on our honeymoon. It was something small, a hotel down in Florida that reported an elevator always stopping at a certain floor even though no one called it there.

The next couple of hours were spent editing and reworking parts of Marius' and Nick's findings, but I just couldn't quiet my mind. It was growing later into the evening and there still was no word at all from him. I stared at the phone for what felt like hours. As night began to set in, I couldn't take it anymore. I rushed over to the phone, picked it up and dialed his number. It started ringing, and I found my heart was beating fast and I didn't understand why. I was a little upset at him for not calling me like he said he would, but I was more frightened that something might have happened to him.

The phone continued to ring, and ring and ring. My mouth was growing dry and my nerves were going wild. When his answering machine picked up, I was upset even more.

"Marius, please call me back... I'm worried... love you." and then I hung up. I know that might have sounded a bit clingy, but in this situation, I think I deserved to be a bit clingy.

I went to go sit down on the couch after grabbing a bottle of water. I rested my face in the palm on my hand, taking calming deep breaths. I knew there was probably a simple explanation as to why he didn't answer, but the problem was that he always answered for me. I almost found myself praying for him to be okay, I couldn't bear his disappearing as well. We already lost Nick.

Then, the phone ring, and adrenaline filled me. I sprinted up from the couch, knocking over my bottle of water in the process. I picked up the phone and nearly screamed.

"Marius, Is that you!?" I questioned in a worried excitement.

My heart stopped. There was only a loud, almost deafening static on the other side of the line.

"H- Hello?" I questioned again.

The static remained, but I listened closely. I could hear something, but I wasn't sure what. Then it grew louder. I could recognize Marius' voice, though; it was still masked by a layer of static, I could make out a few words.

"Stacey... In Silent Hill... Not what... expected... darkness... monsters... everywhere... Nick... Notes... Following...In danger...Not safe... Love you... Please... Come... Help." and then the phone went silent, the dial tone echoing on the other side now.

I just stood there, phone still to my ear. My hand was shaken, and my mind still trying to grasp what I had heard. I dropped the phone and slid down to my knees. I could feel hot tears begin to stream down my cheeks. I wanted to scream, but I couldn't; I couldn't find a voice for it. I just swallowed hard and took a deep, calming breath.

Marius needed me; that much I could figure out. He was in danger, and I had to help him. I looked down to both of my hands, they were shaking. Was I afraid to go or was I afraid for Marius' safety. It didn't matter; all I knew was that I had to go. I gathered up all the courage I could muster and went to my closet.

I shuffled around and found the safe Marius and I kept in the back of the closet; opening it and pulling out a 9mm handgun with the inner thigh holster I had gotten custom fitted, packing it away in a backpack along with a flashlight, some food and extra clothes. I didn't know what to expect when I got there, but I knew I had to go and I had to be prepared.

I grabbed a leather jacket from the hanger and slid it on then made my way to the door and down to the garage. I got into my Camero and pulled Silent Hill up on the GPS. I started the car and pressed my foot on the gas.

"I'm coming Marius... Just hold on..." I whispered nervously.


	4. Chapter 3: Fog World and the First Clue

****Thank you everyone for sticking through this with me. Sorry for not updating much in a while, but I had a lot going on that distracted me from this. I also should give a shout out to my wonderful supporter and editor Echoes of Fantasy, without her, I doubt I would have gotten this far! (If you are a fan of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, I highly recommend reading her work here!) Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3: Fog World and the First Clue**

I opened the door out into the pool area. It was light out, but the entire area was covered in a thick fog; thick enough that I could barely see even a few feet ahead of me.

"How the hell… I've never seen fog this thick before…" I commented under my breath.

I looked at my watch and saw that it was rather early in the morning; about seven in the morning to be exact. There was a bitter cold breeze running through the fog and it made me shiver. "_I should probably get my jacket from my car on the way to Nick's parking spot…" _I thought as I looked at the note, apparently from Nick, in my hand.

"…Parking lot, Spot number twelve. Maybe that's where Nick parked…" I thought as I rustled around in my pocket and pulled out Nick's car keys I had found in the room. "Why did he abandon his car? He would never do that…" I question aloud and pocket the keys again.

As I made my way through the thick fog and into the main lobby, I noticed something else that was rather odd: the entire place seemed to be quiet, almost lifeless. It was all so very dilapidated; as if, over night, the placed had aged several years with no one taking care of it.

"Hello?" I asked out loud, hoping to grab someone's attention, but no one responded. The entire place was eerily quiet. It gave me an uneasy sense of lifelessness surrounding me.

It was very peculiar as normally, the front desk of places like this are always manned at all hours of the day. I made my way to the front desk and placed my hands on the counter, leaning over and looking into the office beyond, but it was empty as well; not a single soul in sight. That same eerie feeling washed over me again and I remembered the dream from last night. The place felt the exact same way and suddenly, I was paranoid. Lying on the far corner of the countertop was a folded up map of Silent Hill's Central District; the district I was in right now.

I found myself watching my back, almost expecting to find that pyramid head thing standing behind me with that bloody great knife. I pushed that thought aside and made my way out into the equally foggy parking lot. There were a lot less cars here and they all looked old, wrong from what I had seen the day before. Many looked as if they hadn't been touched in many years; dust coated on the exterior, some windows broken and some of the tires had been completely deflated.

My truck was still there, though. Still looking just as clean as when I pulled in and parked it. I found that rather odd, but there wasn't much I could do about it until I learned more about what was happening. I opened up one of the side doors on my Ford Ranger XLT extended cab and grabbed my black leather jacket; slipping it on. It didn't make the cold go away, but it sure as hell felt a lot better.

I placed the handgun James had given me into a pocket on the inside of the jacket; the knife from Cheryl still in my pants pocket, and made my way to the spot indicated in Nick's note.

As I had predicted, Nick's 2005 Ford Mustang, blue as a clear morning sky, sat in the spot; covered in a very thin layer of dust. I ran my fingers along the dust-covered body; remembering how excited Nick had been when he had first got it. I checked the driver's side door; not surprised to find it locked. I fished the keys from my pocket and slid the car key home in the lock. The lock on the door popped up a little, and I opened the door.

Like it always had before, Nick's car still had that "New Car" smell from one of those hanging scented tree car fresheners as I sat down in the driver's seat. I inserted the key into the ignition and turned it enough to simply turn the power on. Everything seemed fine on the inside, and the car even showed that it was full on gas, but when I tried to start it, it just gave that long clicking sound as if the battery was dead. I knew Nick wouldn't leave his car in this condition, so why did he? I wondered.

I checked the car out for anything useful; anything at all that I could use to help find Nick. Sat on the passenger's seat was a small voice recorder about the size of the palm of my hand. I didn't have to check it out to know it was Nick's; I had given it to him for his birthday a few years ago. He used to carry around a small notebook with him all the time to jot down his thoughts and ideas, so I thought this would be easier for him.

There was a SD card still loaded into the voice recorder as I checked it out. It was a special touch-screen model, so I loaded it up on the screen and pressed play; Nick's voice filled the car.

"It's Monday, nine in the morning, and I am currently on my way to the local hospital: Alchemilla Hospital. Reported there are what you would expect from any really old hospital; some sighted apparitions, objects like doors, tables and beds moving by themselves, and patients hearing voices in some of the rooms. I don't expect much in the way of actual activity, but you never know in towns as old and riddled with history as this one. I hope tha…" Nick's voice was suddenly drowned in a fury of static.

I tried to restart the recording, but all I was getting any more was static; even after rewinding.

"What the hell…?"

All of a sudden, there was a loud thud against the door and I jumped, quickly turning to look out the driver's side window. What I saw made my eyes widen with shock; they almost couldn't comprehend what I was looking at. On the other side of the car window was something I had no word for other than, creature. An eyeless and lipless face stared back at me, almost pressed up against the window; its skin was grey as death and covered in thick, pulsating black veins. The rest of the creature's body was obscured by the car door.

I nearly had a heart attack as I quickly pocket the voice recorder, which was still ringing with static noise, and push myself back into the passenger's seat. The creature pulled its head back and smashed it against the driver's side window again. Cracks started to form along the window, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it would manage to break through.

My heart was pounding so hard that it was deafening, and my breathing grew rapid and heavy. I had no idea what the hell was happening.

"What the hell are you!?" I shouted in terrified anger at the creature. "Get the hell away!"

I quickly drew the 9mm handgun from the inside pocket of my jacket and aimed it directly at the creature's frightening and disfigured head. My entire arm was shaking, making it hard to aim as my finger hesitated over the trigger. I had never actually shot a gun before; it showed as I couldn't steady myself, and I could feel the sweat beginning to form on my forehead. The creature drew back once again and then rammed itself harder into the window. The glass gave way and shattered, and time seemed to slow down as I screamed. It was that feeling that everyone seems to get when you see something coming towards you like an on-coming train. It only ever lasts a moment, but that moment can feel like a lifetime. I pulled the trigger.

The bang from the shot rang throughout the car louder than I had expected. My ears were ringing and the world spun around me. I shook my head and quickly rubbed at my eyes. It took a moment, but my vision cleared, and the grotesque figure was no longer in sight. I felt behind me for the passenger's door handle and pulled it. The door slowly pushed open and I fell out harshly onto the concrete parking lot; the gun still smoking and held tight in the clutch of my hand.

I got to my feet as quickly as I could and held the 9mm up in front of me as best as I could, then made my way very slowly and carefully to the driver's side. There was a rather large pool of fresh blood coating the concrete; apparently even with my lack of skill, I still managed to hit the thing, whatever it was. But, there was no body at all to be found and a cold chill ran up my spine. There was no sign of the thing at all, not even tracks of blood leading away. It was as if whatever it was had just vanished.

The gun felt heavy in my still shaking hands as I searched around the immediate area for any sign of the creature; paranoid that it might sneak up on me or something just as sinister. After a few minutes past, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and slowly slid the 9mm back into the inside pocket of my jacket. I chuckled a little nervously as I glanced at the driver's side door; it was riddled with dents and the entirety of the window had been smashed inward, leaving fragments of glass on the driver's seat.

"Nick's going to kill me for this…" I say jokingly in a whisper, almost afraid that whatever that thing was would hear me and come back. Or maybe something more lurked in the dense fog.

There was obviously nothing left for me to do here, so I made my way quickly, and cautiously, back to my truck once again. I slid into the driver's seat and tested the ignition. The engine roared to life. I buckled my seatbelt and put it into drive and drove out of the parking lot and onto the fog covered streets.

I drove slowly, my headlights set on high-beam; I didn't want to accidentally hit someone after all. Though, even out on the roads at this early hour, there wasn't a soul in sight. Weren't people supposed to be up around now heading to work? The only cars on the road that I could make out were similar to the ones in the parking lot before; they looked old, dilapidated and covered in a thick layer of what seemed to be dust. Had something happened when I was asleep? Was the whole town evacuated or something? I thought, but that still didn't explain what the hell that monster was or why everything looked so… old.

It all didn't matter, I had to find Nick. He was in trouble; I knew that for sure without a shadow of a doubt. Maybe whatever that thing was, was the reason Nick had disappeared. Though, with as little leads as I had now other than Nick's voice recording, there was only one thing for me to do. I made my way down the road in the direction the hospital was according to the map.

It didn't take all that long to get there, even in this strangely thick fog. I decided to park my truck out on the corner of the street in front of the entrance to Alchemilla; with the town abandoned, who would care if I was illegally parked? I was in too much of a hurry to care.

Alchemilla wasn't as small as one would expect in a town like this, but it still wasn't as large as some you would find in the big cities. I made my way up the entry ramp and pushed through the large double doors into the main lobby. The power still seemed to be working at least as most of the overhead lights still shone brightly, though some flickered and then some were completely burnt out. It bathed the hospital in an uneasy gloom. To my left, there was what I assumed to be the check-in desk and office. It was small and had some paperwork scattered about on the countertop. It looked like whoever was here had left in a hurry. To my right, was a plain tan-painted wall just like the rest of the walls with chairs lined up along it and a rather large bulletin board hanging above them; mounted to the wall firmly.

I moved closer to the bulletin board and examined the papers tacked to it closely. It wasn't all that interesting; some advertisements for the hospital, greeting cards, and pictures that kids had drawn of some of the staff, but what really caught my attention was the map of the hospital posted up on the far right corner. It only showed the first two floors, but the hospital looked a bit bigger than that from outside. It showed stairs that led down on the first floor to what I could only guess was the basement level, but there wasn't a section of the map detailing it. That wasn't all that important, though. What was important was something had been written in pen on the corner of one side of the map.

"Disturbance in Intensive care…You know what to do, Marius." I repeated aloud, and that was it, just that one cryptic sentence. Though, it looked like it had been written in Nick's handwriting with a small arrow pointing to the intensive care room located on the second floor.

My voice had echoed through the abandoned and decrepit hallway, sending a shiver down my spine. Normally, fears like this and the thrill of hunting down paranormal activity gave me a rush, but this? This wasn't exciting in the least; this was too serious a situation to allow it.

I pulled the map gently off of the bulletin board, folded it up and pocket it with the map of the town. I then made my way out of the lobby and down the only hallway on my left. There were double doors at the end of the first hallway that led into a second. I followed that hallway all the way down according to the map, but when I pushed on the second set of double doors that was supposed to lead me into a third hallway, I found the doors jammed by something heavy on the other side.

All of a sudden, there was a soft rustling behind me, very alien in the dead silence that was there before. I turned quickly just in time to see a shadowy figure dart through the double doors that I had just come through before.

"Hey, wait!" I shouted, hoping that maybe it was someone who could explain what the hell was going on around here.

I sprinted back towards those doors and tried to push them open to give chase, but found them suddenly locked. I glanced through the small window of the door but whatever it was, was gone now. It seemed that I was now stuck in here until I find the keys to this place. I sighed and turned back around and pressed my back to the door, looking along the hallway I found myself trapped in. There were three other doors here that I had yet to try out; one led to the stairs and the other two were apparently bathrooms. I took the stairs.

There were no more signs of life at all; it was all getting rather unnerving. I made my way up the stairs and into the second floor's main hallway. Left down the hallway led to four rooms that were numbered from 201 to 204, and straight ahead of me was another set of double doors that led to another part of the hallway as well as a single door labeled _Nurse Center_. There was no need for me to go into any of the patient rooms as of yet, so I went for the double doors. Surprisingly, they were unlocked as I pushed my way through.

From here, it was a straight shot to the Intensive Care room. As I grew closer to the door, I slowed down; hearing something coming from beyond the door. It was a calm sound, like one of those old fashioned music boxes. It took effort, but the door slowly pushed open.

A bright light blinded me for a moment. When I opened my eyes again, I was in the room, the door shut behind me. The room was a decent sized, bathed in dim light from a open window that looked out over the town. There were small metal rolling tables scattered about with all manner of medical equipment as well. A large sink was positioned on the wall nearby the door with a small mirror over it. The tune from the illusive music box filled the room. It was loud, but surprisingly calming.

Tucked away in the far corner of the room was a small bed, covered on most sides by a large white curtain save for a small gap on one side. Through it, I could see the beginnings of what seemed o me to be a foot. It twitched a little and my breath was caught in my throat.

"Who… Who's there?" A soft voice asked that could only be a child, female by the sound of it.

I stood there for a long moment in silence. I was unsure as to what to say; my voice caught along with my breath.

"I'm… Marius. I'm here looking for someone… a friend." I finally managed to say.

"Nicholas?" The child-like voice asked.

"How did you…?"

"…know?" the voice finished for me. "He visited me here as well. He was very nice to me…"

"Do you know where he is?" I asked in a hurry.

The voice chuckled. It was both innocent sounding and very unnerving at the same time.

"He was here, of course. He just left. Did you not see him?"

As soon as the girl, I assume, said that, I rushed back to the door and tried to open it. It was locked; of course.

"Why leave just yet? He left you a message. It's right here, with me."

"With you?" I questioned. My eyes were narrow as I examined the covered bed.

"It's on the side table here, behind the curtain. You'll have to come get it… I can't move that well."

I cautiously approach, unsure if it was really a person or merely another trick. The tune of the music box grew even louder the closer I got to the bed. I gripped at the edge of the slightly parted curtain and pulled it open. I gasped sharply and fell back onto the hard tile floor. I covered my mouth as I nearly lost what little food I had in my stomach.

The bed was rather empty, the sheets stun about as if someone had been lying there recently, but there was no body. Just a single, severed foot settled under the sheets of a bloody drenched bed. An unfamiliar stench filled my nose and nearly made me vomit again; it was the stench of death, of rotting meat and flesh. Who the hell had just been talking to me? I swallowed hard, trying to keep my lunch down as I slowly got back to my feet.

Just as the voice had mentioned, on the side table next to the bloody bed sat a music box, and inside the music box, resting on the edge, was another SD card. I made my way slowly over to it, careful not to breathe in too deeply. I pulled out the voice recorder and switched the SD card with the new one and pressed play.

There was a long static-filled silence and then a deafening siren filled the room from the voice recorder, like one of those old fashioned air raid sirens. There were sound amplifiers for these things, but this was beyond it. I tried to press stop but the stupid thing wasn't responding at all. The world began to spin as I fell to my knees on the cold tile floor. I looked slowly around the room; it looked as if it were getting older by the second, rusting and decaying at an alarming rate. The pant on the walls began to peel and drop to the floor with a very meaty sound as if they were raw flesh. What the hell was going on? And with that thought stuck in my mind, I blacked out.


	5. Chapter 4: The Otherworld

****Finally got a chance to finish this chapter. Updates will be slow, but they will be coming! Yet again, I couldn't have done this without the help of my muse, Echoes of Fantasy. Please check out her stories here on fanfiction! Enjoy!

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**Chapter 4_:_ The Otherworld**

My head was pounding as I slowly opened my eyes. Darkness surrounded me on all sides; thick and seemingly impenetrable. I was on the floor on all fours, gasping for air almost as if it were somehow thinner in here. The floor felt odd, it definitely wasn't tile. It felt more metallic yet… fleshy all at the same time. My mind wasn't sure what to make of it.

I slowly pushed myself to my feet and tried to look around, but found pitch black darkness everywhere save for a thin beam of light from the opposite corner of the room. It looked far away, but the room wasn't all that big. Maybe it was just in my mind. I felt my way towards that source of light as if it were my only hope to pierce the darkness.

Something hit my leg, probably one of the metallic tables as whatever it was toppled over onto the ground with a loud clang. My night vision wasn't all that great, but it was better than most. I only hit one more of those tables as I made my way towards that light. My breathing turned harsh and rapid the closer I drew, almost as if something didn't want me to make it. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, and I heard a soft rustling come from behind me. I wasn't alone.

I found myself sprinting through the last few steps towards the light, almost as if my life truly depended on me reaching it; which it just might as the rustling behind me grew quicker, louder. I reached the light with bated breath. It was a flashlight, which filled me with a sense of relief. I grabbed for it and immediately turned it in the direction of that rustling noise. But there was nothing there; nothing at all, and that made me grow pale and my skin run cold. What the hell could that have been? It had to have been something; I knew I wasn't hallucinating that sound… it was too loud and too real.

The flashlight felt heavy in my already shaky hand as I used it to scan the room. This place… It was completely different than the room I had been in before. The walls looked to be made out of some rusted metal with darker stains on it that I couldn't even begin to guess what it was in this dim lighting. It also smelled of something…rotten; like dead meat, but it was something more. It was something that I haven't ever smelled before. It made my nose crinkle and I gagged hard enough to where I thought I would vomit. I remembered the dream I had nights ago, being in my apartment and finding the dead bodies of both Stacey and Nick, and I remembered what that smell was; death.

I aimed my flashlight at a nearby door. The rusted sign above it read _Nurse Center._ Then, the rustling noise sounded again through the room, this time coming from my far right. I quickly turned the flashlight to aim in that direction. I felt the blood rush from my face, and the room grew cold as the light from the flashlight clutched tight in my hand began to flicker as it illuminated the twitching, and gruesome creature.

This creature looked more… human, but that didn't seem to be the right word for it, whatever it was. It looked like a woman; it had those obviously feminine curves all encased in a tight, white nurse's gown. Though, its skin looked grey, old and rotting with dark veins running up those long, long legs. Her face, if you could even call it that, was so tightly wrapped in blood-soaked bandages that it looked as if she were blind. Her outfit was completely covered in what looked like fresh blood. She, if you could really call it a she, was dragging at her side a large, rusted pipe.

My stomach wrenched at the sight of the creature. I backed up, flashlight still foolishly aimed at her as if it would frighten her away.

"St- Stay back!" I threatened.

Her bandaged face slowly turned to me, joints cracking in a most disturbing and inhuman fashion. The sound itself sent a shiver of dread up my spine. A low whine emanated from beneath the bloody bandaged face, almost like a sniffling sound yet more sinister than that. The way her body moved as she started to slowly make her way towards me was just as inhuman and joint-cracking, almost mechanical. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest, that all too familiar sense of fear.

"I'm warning you… stay back!" I repeated, voice waning.

That same sniffling whine came from her again as she started to slowly approach, almost as if she were drawn to me…or the light. I started to take a few steps back, my back bumping into the cold metal wall behind me. I was backed into a corner, with the creature creeping up on me; it's metal pipe dragging harshly along the ground.

Then, I remembered the gun sitting in my inner jacket pocket and found myself subconsciously grabbing for it. It was a lot quicker than it had been before as I drew the gun and aimed it at the head of the approaching horror. Once again, I pulled the trigger tight and that same loud crack filled the room. This time though, it didn't shake me as much. Through the smoke from the barrel, I saw the nurse creature slump to the ground with a heavy, meaty thud.

I lowered the gun, pointing it down at the floor. My eyes were wide and my breathing heavy. I had done this once before already, but there was actually a body for me to see this time. It makes a difference when you can see the result. Nervously, I inched my way closer to the fallen body. I almost gagged on the stench of it; the blood, the rotting meat and flesh… It took everything I had not to vomit at that moment. There was a hole blasted through the nurse-creature's chest, her limp form lying in a pool of almost black blood. I nudged it with the side of my foot and waited for a long, quiet moment. It didn't move or make a sound. I let out a sigh of relief.

As soon as I turned to make my way to the far door, something grabbed my ankle and I paled. A high pitched gurgling sound came from behind me. I slowly turned my head to look and found the nurse clutching at my ankle with her bloody hand. That bandaged face slowly cracking to look up at me. I screamed, I couldn't help myself, and it echoed throughout the room. The gun was still drawn in my hard, and suddenly it was before me, aimed at the creature once more. I fired, and kept firing as I let out my fear and confusion on that grabbing figure. By the time the gun in my hand ran empty, there was nothing left of its head but a pulpy mass of blood and thicker things as it lay limply on the ground at my feet. Its hand still clutched weakly at my ankle.

I kicked the hand away and pressed myself up against the nearby wall. Both the gun and the flashlight were held tight, if not shakily in my grasp aimed at the blood spattered figure on the ground. I was breathing hard, so hard that my chest started to burn a bit. I knew it wouldn't get back up… There was no way that it could. It was missing its bloody head now, I thought to myself over and over as I stared at the corpse.

I looked at the 9mm handgun still in my hand and cursed myself for wasting ammo like that. I was now out of bullets and no spare mags on me. Great…

"Come on, Marius… you have to move…" I spoke nervously to myself. My voice carried in the otherwise quiet and nearly empty room.

The door wasn't far from where I was. I clutched at the rusty door handle and turned, pushing the heavy door open with one of those horror movie squeaks. The sound of scraping metal and grinding gears and machinery greeted me on the other side and rang through my ears like nails on a chalkboard and I couldn't help but shiver a little. The hallway I now found myself in was nightmarish; as if I hadn't seen some nightmarish things already. The floor, if you could even call it that, was made out of metal grating and the walls, similar to the Nurse's Center before, was hard, rusted metal with what seemed to be, in my best guess, dried blood. What in the hell had I gotten myself into? Fuck… I had to stay optimistic… I had to push forward.

The floor beneath me creaked with every little footstep as I started to explore this new hallway. It was just as dark out here as it had been in the Nurse Center, the flashlight barely making a dent in the sanguine void. I turned the flashlight in both directions down the long stretching hallway, both ends just as pitched black. A cold chill came over me and I started to shiver and my teeth started chattering. Then, I remembered the map that I had swiped from the lobby and took it out.

I found the Nurse Center on the map on the second floor, not too far from where the intensive care room was supposed to be. I looked around and found rusted panels above some of the doors with faded numbers from 201 to 204, and I knew where I was. I had come out of the Nurse Center the opposite side of intensive care. How the hell did I end up in a completely different room anyways? I thought, but then pushed it from my mind. Nothing else was making sense right now, anyways; I needed to find Nick…

I honestly had no clue where to even start to look for him here. That little girl…well, her voice, had told me that I had just missed him. Had that been him running out of the hospital behind me earlier? I felt around in my pocket for the voice recorder, with any luck there would be more on that SD card I had found than that loud siren. I guess I will have to make my way back to the Intensive care room… That shouldn't be so hard.

Not as soon as I said that did I hear a shuffling sound coming from the direction of room 204. Could there be more of those beastly creatures? I didn't even think that hard about it this time, I simply drew my handgun and spun around in the direction of the noise. My eyes went wide as there were about four, maybe even more of those nurse creatures bearing down on me from the other end of the hallway. I pulled the trigger only to be met with a loud clicking sound. Damn… I forgot that I had wasted the last of my bullets on that last creature.

I cursed under my breath and started running towards the door at the other end of the hallway, letting my momentum take me around the sharp corner and crash into the large double doors.

Just my bloody luck, they were locked tight. I clutched at the door handle and pushed and tugged with all my might, but the door just wouldn't budge. The strange cracking and popping noise and moans that the nurses seemed to make as they moved started to grow louder. If I didn't do something soon, they would catch up to me and that would be it… with no working weapon, I was screwed.

I was panting heavily now, a mixture of fear and exhaustion. If I didn't move, they would get me. But where else would I go? Where the hell to go!? I was cornered… The only other door nearby was now beyond the approaching nurses who were just now rounding the corner. I was panicking as I reached into my pocket and pulled out my lockpick set.

I knelt down in front of the door, searching for the lock. I found it, but as soon as I did, a feeling of dread filled me. It had been broken in places, making it impossible to pick. Was this going to be it…? Was this how it all ends…?

_No…_ Nick's voice filled my head; I had to save him!

_No… _Came Stacey's voice; I had to come home to her… to see her again!

"No…!" I suddenly shouted, standing abruptly and clenching my fist. "Fuck these broken locks, I want to live!"

Then, I took a step back, lifted my right foot and put all my force forward. I put all my energy, my need to live and my desire to save Nick and see Stacey again into this great kick. My foot met the door in a marriage of brute force and rusted metal. It made a dent, but it still wasn't open and the nurses were almost on top of me. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I had to make this last one count.

I repeated the same motion, putting that same need and desire into it as I kicked at the locked door once again. I felt relief rush over me as the door gave way and I fell forward into the next hallway.

I wasted no time; I quickly shut the doors behind me as best as I could and quickly looked for something to barricade it with. There were a few scattered stretchers and even a discarded bed just sitting in the hallway. I rushed and grabbed what I could, quickly blockading the door to the best of my ability. I could see the nurses through the door's window; they were now at the door and banging on it with all their might. I placed my hands on the doors as well, using my force to hopefully keep the barricade in place.

The door rattled and shook with the impact of each nurse hitting it. It felt like hours, but finally, they seemed to give up. I fell back onto my ass on the floor of the hallway, desperately trying to catch my breath.

"Ha…haha…..hahahahaha…." I was suddenly laughing and I wasn't sure why. I had nearly died, yet here I was laughing.

I shook my head and regained myself, I had more important things to do still. I got back to my feet slowly and turned to face the door to Intensive Care once more. Funny… I was right where I needed to be…

I sighed and pushed forward and through the door back into Intensive Care…

The door into Intensive Care felt heavy as I pushed it open. The room was pitched black, not a trace of light to be found at all. I held up my flashlight far in front of me as I stepped into the black abyss. As soon as I was completely in the room, the door shut behind me by itself. The sound of the door closing and an audible locking sound caused me to jump and spin around to look at the door as if it would jump out at me.

"You seem to have survived…" That same little girls voice from before greeted me from behind me. "…but this is just the beginning."

Darkness was all that I could see.

"…there is still a lot for you here in this town…" she continued.

"Where are you…?" I asked.

"Oh I'm here…all around you in fact." She replied with a childish giggle.

"What the hell does that even mean!?"

"You'll find out….with time, but there is still more to come. More of the story left to unfold."

All of a sudden, far off in the distance, a light came to life. The darkness seemed to form and morph around me, stretching that light even further away, as if the room was now some sort of hallway cut through the void.

"You might want to hurry…" that voice suggested.

Not a second after she finished speaking, I heard a harsh yet familiar noises come from behind me. It was the sound of metal dragging against metal. It was a slow and spine tingling sound. A muffled growl from whatever was behind me brought a gasp from me. But how could there be anything behind me? I had come through the door and it had closed and locked behind me. Whatever was behind me growled once again, almost as if it were impatient and waiting for something? Waiting for me to run maybe, or turn around? Whatever it's reason, I could hear a sharp movement from behind me and a hiss of metal and all of a sudden, a long rusted blade met with the side of the wall right next to me, the long length of metal visible in my peripheral vision.

I recognized the blade… it was the same from the nightmare that I had in Nick's room at the motel! Not as soon as I saw the rusted sharp blade did I start desperately sprinting down the long and narrow hallway towards the light. The light would protect me, save me from this beast! The memory of that nightmare flashed through my mind of the moment that creature's blade had pierced my chest and suddenly there was a sharp pain in the same spot now. I clutched at it as I continued to run, I couldn't stop no matter what. If I stopped, it would be the end of me. This seemed to be happening a lot to me recently.

The light still seemed so far off even though it felt like I had been running for an eternity. I could hear that thing still following me at a steady pace, the sound of its metal blade dragging echoed throughout the hallway almost as if it were an ominous fanfare. I had a gun…if only I hadn't wasted my bullets like an idiot, I could have fought back against him. I was so useless; all I could do was run!

Almost as if responding to my emotions, the light started to grow closer and closer, I was almost there! I put everything I had into my legs and sprinted faster. I had to make it, I had to live! The phantom pain in my chest grew stronger the closer I grew to that light. I made it, pushed through the entrance into the lit room. It was rather empty other than a large lamp resting on a small coffee table. On the coffee table though were two more magazines for my handgun!

In one fluid motion, I pulled out the handgun, released the empty mag, grabbed one of the new ones and slid it home into the gun and cocked it back. I turned to look back down the hallway I had just come from, but there was nothing there. Not even the door I had just some through! All that was there was a plain bricked up wall! My eyes were wide and I found myself gasping for air, my legs felt as if they were on fire as I slid down to my knees and closed my eyes, wanting nothing more than a moment of rest.

I kept my eyes shut for a while, part of me not wanting to be in this hell hole any longer, while the other part was just tired. When I opened my eyes once more, I found the room I was in had once again shifted, not to something more sinister, but back to the Intensive Care room I had been in before. The same tile floor, scattered tables and the bed in the far corner of the room, curtain still left aside as he had left it, showing the empty bed.

I sighed and got to my feet slowly, moving towards the bed almost absent mindedly. I found the voice recorder where I had dropped it on the floor and picked it up. I wondered then what might happen if I pressed play. Would that strange loud siren play once more and send me back into that hell? Or would I get my clue… There was only one way to find out, and I had to keep moving forward, no matter how much it frightened me.

I pressed play… Nick's voice filled the room.

"Found…strange… in Hospital…little girl… trapped." I sighed; the recording was garbled with static. "Marius…" he said my name, and I paid even closer attention. "…leaving this…you to find… meet… Midwitch Elementary."

"Midwitch Elementary?"

I remembered seeing that name somewhere on the map of Silent Hill as I pulled it out and examined it. Sure enough, across the nearby bridge into Old Silent Hill was a building labeled Midwitch Elementary School. Looks like I found my next destination…

Looking back at the bed, I sighed. Who was that little girl? Maybe just another spirit trapped in this town…this place was once called the land of lost souls after all… Hopefully whoever it was will be able to find rest. I then thought about that creature from my nightmare that had been chasing me as well as the other creatures I had come in contact with. What were they exactly? Was this place already driving me made and is this all just a figment of my imagination? I understand ghosts and all, but these things…they had physical beings. What on earth is going on in this town? I guess Cheryl had been right… this place was dangerous. I even started wondering if Nick was actually alive or if even that was just another trick this town is playing on my. I shook my head, and slapped myself. No matter if it is a trap or not, there is no going back. I had to find Nick.

All the doors that had been previously locked I found to be open now as I made my way out of the hospital and out into the fog covered streets of Silent Hill once more.

I took out my phone and looked at the time…if this was correct, it was already very late in the day still…I needed to try to contact Stacey and tell her what's happened. I unlocked my phone and dialed in her number.

The phone rang with an uneasy amount of static echoing in the background, it almost hurt my ear.

"Answer the phone…" I whispered. The phone continued to ring, and then suddenly, I could hear something covered in thick white noise.

"H…llo….?" I could make out Stacey's voice…barely.

"Stacey, I'm in Silent Hill. It's… not what I expected. There is a strange darkness here and there are monsters everywhere. Nick left some notes and I am following them in hopes that I might find him. I think he is in danger." The phone began to fill with static… it would be mere moments before we were disconnected. "It's not safe here at all. I Love you, Stacey. Please stay home where it is safe. Don't come here, you cannot help." And then, just as I had predicted, the connection was lost and all I could hear was silence.

I found my way back to my truck and turned the key in the ignition. Slowly, the truck roared to life and I put it into gear and started my way towards the school. I should be there in no time…

6


End file.
